A Close Shave
Encyclopedia
A Close Shave is a 1995 British animated film directed by Nick Park
at Aardman Animations
in Bristol
, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit
. It was his third half-hour short featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but intelligent dog Gromit, following 1989's A Grand Day Out
, and 1993's The Wrong Trousers
. It was released theatrically in the United States with Pocahontas.
To celebrate the film's premiere on December 24, 1995, BBC Two
's Christmas
presentation that year (broadcast from 17 to 22 December) featured Wallace and Gromit. The main ident featured the two (Wallace wears a red crown
and Gromit wears a green crown) eating Christmas dinner, with a large blue 2 (the channel's logo) situated in the middle of the table, covered with flashing Christmas lights. Several Christmas themed stings also involving Wallace, Gromit, and the 2 were shown between programmes. The animation of these idents appeared slightly different from other Wallace and Gromit shorts.
Following in the footsteps of its predecessor The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1996.
Wendolene's father left the wool shop to his daughter "along with his debts, and a few other things." Wallace also learns that he too, was an inventor. Wallace falls in love with Wendolene, but also gets them involved in a sheep-rustling scheme run by Wendolene's sinister dog Preston to provide Wendolene's wool. After coming home, Wallace and Gromit find their home to be in a mess, and discover that the culprit was the sheep who escaped from the truck. They decide to clean him up in Wallace's wash-o-matic, but due to a malfunction, the sheep gets sucked into another invention, Wallace's knit-o-matic, which shears him down. Wallace and Gromit decide to adopt the sheep, and name him "Shaun
", after his mishap. They also give Shaun the sweater that was made out of his wool.
Jealous of Gromit, Preston frames him for the thefts and has him sent to a prison for life, but Wallace, Shaun and the sheep (who have been living with Wallace since Gromit's arrest) all stand on each others shoulders (with Wallace at the bottom) and cut through the bars of Gromit's cell with an electric buzz saw, setting him free. Accidentally, Wallace slips on a bar of soap and the stack of friends falls over backwards. Meanwhile, Wendolene becomes upset and angry and orders Preston to stop the sheep thefts but to no avail. Instead, Preston locks her in the back of truck with the intention of turning her (and the sheep) into dog food.
Wallace and Gromit give chase on their motorbike and sidecar, but they soon end up separated; Gromit flies off a 2000 feet (609.6 m) drop ledge, but activates the sidecar's plane mode and flies safely on. He then attacks Preston's truck with Wallace's porridge machine held inside the plane. Wallace meanwhile attempts to free Wendolene and the sheep from the truck, but ends up trapped there himself. The truck drives through a secret door and into a large underground hideout, where Preston has built an exact replica of the knit-o-matic and wash-o-matic, having stolen Wallace's blueprints. He attempts to feed his captives into it.
With the help of signals from Shaun, Gromit locates the hideout and attacks Preston head on, firing at him with the porridge gun and flying into him. Shaun then pulls the nozzle to the knit-o-matic over Preston, sucking him into it and giving him a close shave. Midway through the process however, dents appear on the machine, which stops working. Wendolene then reveals that Preston is a robot dog
built by her father; although he was created to be good, he turned out evil.
Preston, now a completely robotic dog, advances on Wallace, Wendolene, and the sheep, before he is blinded by his coat being forcibly put back on him. His blundering leads to the group being lifted up towards Preston's Mutton-o-Matic, a dog food processor. Gromit then knocks Preston onto the conveyor belt leading to the machine, with Wallace and the others soon following. Shaun then swings in on an anvil, knocking Preston into the grinders of the machine, where Preston is destroyed.
At the end of the film, Wendolene reveals that Preston was rebuilt with completely normal dog behavior and a remote control. She visits Wallace; however when he invites her in to have cheese with him, he learns to his dismay that she cannot have any because it causes her to break out in a rash. Wallace is distraught ("What's wrong with Wensleydale??") but then decides to console himself with some cheese, only to find Shaun eating it.
As before, the 30 minutes are packed with sight gags and exaggerated physical comedy, as well as a few subtle film parodies. Voice acting was before the sole duty of Peter Sallis
(the voice of Wallace), as Gromit is always silent. In 'A Close Shave', Wendolene was introduced as the second speaking character for the series, voiced by Anne Reid
.
's next major outing was in a set of 10 2½-minute shorts called Cracking Contraptions, each showing one of Wallace's inventions, usually with disastrous results. These appeared on the Internet and were also released as a limited edition Region 2 DVD, later on the Curse of the Were-Rabbit DVD. The sequel to A Close Shave is the feature film
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
. The next major short was A Matter of Loaf and Death
, first broadcast in Britain on Christmas Day 2008.
entitled, "Shaun the Sheep
" which has also been broadcast worldwide and currently the first two seasons (80 episodes, each approx 7 minutes long) are available on DVD
. Though it's never explicitly stated as part of the canon, it can be surmised that Wallace sold off the entire flock to "The Farmer" who owns the farm where Shaun and his friends now reside. Each episode contains slapstick and situational humor with Shaun as the leader of the flock dealing with everyday farm issues while exhibiting a high level of intelligence and human-like behavior to a level much like Gromit.
"Shaun the Sheep
" the series itself has spun off another very successful series aimed for toddlers entitled "Timmy Time
", Timmy being a baby sheep in Shaun's flock with misadventures of his own.
Nick Park
Nicholas Wulstan "Nick" Park, CBE is an English filmmaker of stop motion animation best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep....
at Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit...
in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
. It was his third half-hour short featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but intelligent dog Gromit, following 1989's A Grand Day Out
A Grand Day Out
A Grand Day Out is an award-nominated 1989 animated film directed and animated by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol. This was the first adventure featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but smart dog Gromit...
, and 1993's The Wrong Trousers
The Wrong Trousers
The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit...
. It was released theatrically in the United States with Pocahontas.
To celebrate the film's premiere on December 24, 1995, BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
presentation that year (broadcast from 17 to 22 December) featured Wallace and Gromit. The main ident featured the two (Wallace wears a red crown
Crown (headgear)
A crown is the traditional symbolic form of headgear worn by a monarch or by a deity, for whom the crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. In art, the crown may be shown being offered to...
and Gromit wears a green crown) eating Christmas dinner, with a large blue 2 (the channel's logo) situated in the middle of the table, covered with flashing Christmas lights. Several Christmas themed stings also involving Wallace, Gromit, and the 2 were shown between programmes. The animation of these idents appeared slightly different from other Wallace and Gromit shorts.
Following in the footsteps of its predecessor The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1996.
Summary
At midnight a mysterious lorry stops by Wallace and Gromit's house, allowing a small sheep the chance to escape. A dog tries to get out, but is pulled back inside the truck again, allowing the sheep to eat things around the house. This causes trouble the next morning for Wallace, who is pelted with porridge because of the sheep chewing on the cord of his breakfast machine. It is also revealed in this short that Wallace and Gromit are running a window-cleaning business; their work brings Wallace into contact with wool shop owner Wendolene Ramsbottom.Wendolene's father left the wool shop to his daughter "along with his debts, and a few other things." Wallace also learns that he too, was an inventor. Wallace falls in love with Wendolene, but also gets them involved in a sheep-rustling scheme run by Wendolene's sinister dog Preston to provide Wendolene's wool. After coming home, Wallace and Gromit find their home to be in a mess, and discover that the culprit was the sheep who escaped from the truck. They decide to clean him up in Wallace's wash-o-matic, but due to a malfunction, the sheep gets sucked into another invention, Wallace's knit-o-matic, which shears him down. Wallace and Gromit decide to adopt the sheep, and name him "Shaun
Shaun the Sheep
Shaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated children's television series produced by Aardman Animations, and commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007...
", after his mishap. They also give Shaun the sweater that was made out of his wool.
Jealous of Gromit, Preston frames him for the thefts and has him sent to a prison for life, but Wallace, Shaun and the sheep (who have been living with Wallace since Gromit's arrest) all stand on each others shoulders (with Wallace at the bottom) and cut through the bars of Gromit's cell with an electric buzz saw, setting him free. Accidentally, Wallace slips on a bar of soap and the stack of friends falls over backwards. Meanwhile, Wendolene becomes upset and angry and orders Preston to stop the sheep thefts but to no avail. Instead, Preston locks her in the back of truck with the intention of turning her (and the sheep) into dog food.
Wallace and Gromit give chase on their motorbike and sidecar, but they soon end up separated; Gromit flies off a 2000 feet (609.6 m) drop ledge, but activates the sidecar's plane mode and flies safely on. He then attacks Preston's truck with Wallace's porridge machine held inside the plane. Wallace meanwhile attempts to free Wendolene and the sheep from the truck, but ends up trapped there himself. The truck drives through a secret door and into a large underground hideout, where Preston has built an exact replica of the knit-o-matic and wash-o-matic, having stolen Wallace's blueprints. He attempts to feed his captives into it.
With the help of signals from Shaun, Gromit locates the hideout and attacks Preston head on, firing at him with the porridge gun and flying into him. Shaun then pulls the nozzle to the knit-o-matic over Preston, sucking him into it and giving him a close shave. Midway through the process however, dents appear on the machine, which stops working. Wendolene then reveals that Preston is a robot dog
Robot dog
Robotic dogs are robots designed to resemble dogs in appearance and behavior, usually incorporating canine characteristics such as barking or tail-wagging...
built by her father; although he was created to be good, he turned out evil.
Preston, now a completely robotic dog, advances on Wallace, Wendolene, and the sheep, before he is blinded by his coat being forcibly put back on him. His blundering leads to the group being lifted up towards Preston's Mutton-o-Matic, a dog food processor. Gromit then knocks Preston onto the conveyor belt leading to the machine, with Wallace and the others soon following. Shaun then swings in on an anvil, knocking Preston into the grinders of the machine, where Preston is destroyed.
At the end of the film, Wendolene reveals that Preston was rebuilt with completely normal dog behavior and a remote control. She visits Wallace; however when he invites her in to have cheese with him, he learns to his dismay that she cannot have any because it causes her to break out in a rash. Wallace is distraught ("What's wrong with Wensleydale??") but then decides to console himself with some cheese, only to find Shaun eating it.
As before, the 30 minutes are packed with sight gags and exaggerated physical comedy, as well as a few subtle film parodies. Voice acting was before the sole duty of Peter Sallis
Peter Sallis
Peter Sallis, OBE is an English actor and entertainer, well-known for his work on British television. Although he was born and brought up in London, his two most notable roles require him to adopt the accents and mannerisms of a Northerner.Sallis is best known for his role as the main character...
(the voice of Wallace), as Gromit is always silent. In 'A Close Shave', Wendolene was introduced as the second speaking character for the series, voiced by Anne Reid
Anne Reid
Anne Reid, MBE is a BAFTA Award-nominated English film and television actress from Newcastle upon Tyne, best known for her roles as Valerie Tatlock in Coronation Street and Jean in dinnerladies....
.
Sequels
After A Close Shave, Wallace And GromitWallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
's next major outing was in a set of 10 2½-minute shorts called Cracking Contraptions, each showing one of Wallace's inventions, usually with disastrous results. These appeared on the Internet and were also released as a limited edition Region 2 DVD, later on the Curse of the Were-Rabbit DVD. The sequel to A Close Shave is the feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a 2005 British clay-mation animated comedy horror film, the first feature-length Wallace and Gromit film. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Animations, and released by DreamWorksPictures...
. The next major short was A Matter of Loaf and Death
A Matter of Loaf and Death
A Matter of Loaf and Death is an animated television short created by Nick Park, and the fourth of his shorts to star his characters Wallace and Gromit...
, first broadcast in Britain on Christmas Day 2008.
Spin-Off
Shaun, the youngest of the flock of sheep in this feature, proved to be a very popular character and was given his own highly successful TV series on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
entitled, "Shaun the Sheep
Shaun the Sheep
Shaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated children's television series produced by Aardman Animations, and commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007...
" which has also been broadcast worldwide and currently the first two seasons (80 episodes, each approx 7 minutes long) are available on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. Though it's never explicitly stated as part of the canon, it can be surmised that Wallace sold off the entire flock to "The Farmer" who owns the farm where Shaun and his friends now reside. Each episode contains slapstick and situational humor with Shaun as the leader of the flock dealing with everyday farm issues while exhibiting a high level of intelligence and human-like behavior to a level much like Gromit.
"Shaun the Sheep
Shaun the Sheep
Shaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated children's television series produced by Aardman Animations, and commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007...
" the series itself has spun off another very successful series aimed for toddlers entitled "Timmy Time
Timmy Time
Timmy Time is an animated pre-school children's comedy series created by Aardman Animations. It started broadcasting in the UK on CBeebies on 6 April 2009. The show is a spin off from the Shaun the Sheep animation which itself is a spin off from the Aardman series Wallace & Gromit, which introduced...
", Timmy being a baby sheep in Shaun's flock with misadventures of his own.